The next day, it wasn’t Rhys and Bast who manned the stall. Instead, the smallest, most delicate of the orphans sat behind the cloth, peddling their bags to all passerby for one silver a bag. Two of the oldest orphans stood nearby, just close enough to ward off anyone who might think about snatching a bag, or worse, the orphans’ takings. Rhy...
2025-01-09 16:04:01 +0000 UTC View PostThe two of them arrived at the arena as the first spectators arrived. Rhys threw down the red-and-white robe he’d found earlier, tucking the sleeves underneath so it appeared as nothing more than a backdrop. He and Bast quickly set up their wares atop the sheet, setting their bags to the front. Rhys reached for the potions, then hesitated. He ...
2025-01-09 16:03:01 +0000 UTC View PostAs the first day of the tournament wound to an end, Rhys and Bast retreated, quickly making themselves scarce before any of the tournament’s organizers could corner them and ask a few pesky questions. Their gatherings were immense. In the heat of battle, no one had the time to pause and tip every last drop out of a potion bottle, and so every ...
2025-01-09 16:02:01 +0000 UTC View PostTam and Den crawled back to the orphanage by nightfall, covered in filth and bites, and none the happier for their stint in the depths of the pit. They glared death at Rhys, and Rhys ignored them. Tam tried reporting what had happened to the matron, but she gave him as much time as she’d given Rhys, and simply clapped him on the ear for not li...
2025-01-09 16:01:01 +0000 UTC View PostRhys propped the chair up on the garbage at the edge of the pit and clambered up it. It was a short walk from the pit to the town, and dark when he got there. The town had a wall, and the gates were halfway closed, but a woman was arguing with the gate guards.
She gestured at the darkness. “—still out there! He’s just a child. We can...
2025-01-09 16:00:09 +0000 UTC View PostA/N: Guys, I'm... I'm so sorry. I can't live without writing two books! I tried to hide this sickness, tried to pretend it wasn't real, but--but I can't hide it any more. That's right. This foolish author isn't happy unless they write at least two books at once!
A/N: Please enjoy. I'm putting these first 20k words on both tiers so everyon...
2025-01-09 15:30:02 +0000 UTC View PostAs he’d suspected, Vi’s castle hadn’t truly fallen at all. There was no sign of damage to the walls. Instead, it appeared that Vi had simply retreated her castle back into the earth, somehow—undone whatever magic it was that had pushed it out of the earth in the first place, to return it to its safe haven underground. Her castle hadn’t...
2025-01-09 15:00:10 +0000 UTC View PostIke raced through the forest. What Scar had said kept replaying through his head. Why were they executed when the trial ended? Did the trial devour them to re-seal the monster? Or… was it simply a side effect of something more fundamental? Something like folding the realm away to seal the monster once more, but in collapsing the realm, they’...
2025-01-08 15:00:10 +0000 UTC View PostIke reached the castle before anyone else. He sat down in the deepest point of the rubble to meditate for the few precious moments he could. He’d used almost all his aether in that attack. He needed to recharge, even just to run around the field. There was no way he’d absorb enough mana to launch another attack at this shallow point, without...
2025-01-07 15:00:06 +0000 UTC View PostIke rushed toward the figure’s feet. Storm Clad lashed him with hot water, superheated from the heat the figure gave off. Lightning crackled all around him. Green energy built up around his arm as he activated Shockwave Punch. At the same time, he used the newly optimized Hammer Sword and surged his mana toward his hands, activating both his n...
2025-01-06 15:00:05 +0000 UTC View PostAt long last, the figure lifted a foot. Trees flew from the passing wind of its step. A shadow fell over the forest. Its foot slammed back down, and the earth jumped. Tremors reached where Ike stood, far away at the edge of the trapped zone. Looking at the figure now, with the trapped zone behind him, he felt nothing but embarrassment. They’d ...
2025-01-05 15:00:05 +0000 UTC View PostWhile the others fled, Ike leaped up to meet the hand. He was no larger than a wasp compared to the immensity of the hand, but he jumped up anyways. The trees shattered under the hand, brushed aside like blades of grass. Ike bounced off the falling trunks, leaping higher and higher. Every grain of the hand stood out, every whirl and swirl of the...
2025-01-04 15:00:07 +0000 UTC View PostA new phase of the battle began. They still fought, but less often than before. Now, their times in battle were interspersed with long breaks, as Ike and Wisp brought centipedes out from the earth to join the fight. Ike led the expeditions; as the fastest, he was best suited to kiting the centipedes. Wisp also made a lot of sense, with her full ...
2025-01-03 15:00:07 +0000 UTC View PostIke at their head, the centipedes rushed through the castle and out onto the battlements. Wisp was gone. The Old Guard had hidden. There was only one tasty morsel ahead of them, and his name was Ike. Unhesitating, Ike leaped off the wall and down toward the battle.
The centipedes poured after him. Like a wave crashing against the shore, th...
2025-01-02 15:00:05 +0000 UTC View PostThe centipedes gave chase, and Ike ran. He sprinted through the halls, tracing back the path he’d taken to the center of the nest. The centipedes followed hungrily, their mandibles gnashing, hissing louder than a boiling kettle. They darted at Ike. Every stumble, every slip, they darted in, searching for that momentary trip that would let them...
2025-01-01 15:00:20 +0000 UTC View PostOne after another, the monsters charged Ike’s castle. Like waves washing over the beach, they slammed into Ike and his defenses. He and the other defenders fought in waves to meet the monsters. Time and time again, the monsters rallied and rushed the walls. Time and time again, Ike and his men fought them back. Days ground by. Weeks. Months. I...
2024-12-31 15:00:06 +0000 UTC View PostIke charged up to the battlements. A shadow loomed over the castle. Without calling Mag, he could already decode what had happened. All three streams of monsters, Scar’s, Rufus’, and Ike’s own, had reached his castle. He twisted his lips. I was expecting this, but not this early. And was it too much to hope that Vi might absorb one of ...
2024-12-30 15:00:21 +0000 UTC View PostThe mana flow ended at a spiderwebbed dark hole that vanished deeper into the earth—one of the centipede holes from the previous round of the trial. The mana grew even thicker beyond the hole, but Ike sat outside the hole. He had no interest in pressing his luck by stepping past the defensive spider webbing and exposing himself to the centiped...
2024-12-29 15:00:10 +0000 UTC View PostBack at the castle, Ike didn’t immediately go rest. He paced the battlements, watching the battle from close enough to jump in if he needed to. However, Scar and her men had the battle well in hand. With the tip about the fire from Wisp’s dismantled trap, the five of them managed to set a fresh fire trap to lure the monsters into. Once they ...
2024-12-28 15:00:07 +0000 UTC View PostThe monsters were pushing toward the walls when Ike returned. Despite the short time he was gone, Wisp’s fire trap was no more, and the fighters had fallen back, relying on the defenses Ike and the Old Guard had set before the wave kicked off. Wisp dashed from place to place, hitting the monsters, then fleeing, Rufus and his men struggled, but...
2024-12-27 15:00:09 +0000 UTC View PostScar’s men jumped to the moment she gave the order. In a matter of seconds, they’d gathered everything they owned and regrouped on the battlements. Scar gave the order, and they followed Ike, all of them trooping after him. Behind them, the monsters smashed into the wall. The walls cracked, crumbling to the floor. Bare seconds later, the mon...
2024-12-26 15:00:08 +0000 UTC View PostIke rushed toward the border between his and Scar’s castles. The trees rushed by, the monsters from his castle far behind him. Ahead, a fire raged. Thick black smoke billowed into the sky and rushed through the trees. Ike took short, quick breaths whenever the air cleared, avoiding as much of the choking smoke as he could.
The monsters l...
2024-12-25 15:00:15 +0000 UTC View PostIke dashed toward the monsters. They stared at him, startled, but only for an instant. In the next, they rounded on him as one, swinging their axes. A wall of blades cut toward Ike, the axes all striking at the exact same time so there was no escape.
Not that Ike was going to escape.
He rushed directly toward them, swinging with all ...
2024-12-24 15:00:06 +0000 UTC View PostIke leaped forward, and this time, the sword didn’t fight him or struggle toward the axes. It obeyed his command, moving almost as neatly as his old sword had. Unlike his old sword, he felt a sense of togetherness with this sword, a real feeling of cooperation. This sword was a partner, not just a weapon.
Strangely, there was a sense of ...
2024-12-23 15:00:05 +0000 UTC View PostThe monster stomped down on him, while the other swung its axe. Caught in between, Ike stared between the two of them.
Uh oh.
He surged his aether to Lightning Dash and leaped backward. The monster’s foot slammed down inches in front of him, so close he felt the heat simmering off its heel. He instantly slashed at the back...
2024-12-22 15:00:06 +0000 UTC View PostRufus slashed out. His blade cut into the old man’s neck. The old man startled. His eyes widened as his head flew away.
His body sagged to the ground with a thump. Rufus stood over him, breathing heavily. He stared at the old man.
“You don’t control me. No one controls me.”
Ike edged past him. “Excuse me, pardon me…...
2024-12-21 15:00:04 +0000 UTC View PostThe sun hadn’t yet risen. A full night had not passed, merely a few hours. Ike sprinted through the scorched woods toward the place Mag had pointed to. He didn’t try to be stealthy or subtle. No one from the castle could keep up with him, and he didn’t care if the old man knew he was coming; he’d fight him all the same, one way or the ot...
2024-12-20 15:00:08 +0000 UTC View PostA roar broke Ike out of his meditation. He sat up, checking his aether levels. Over three-quarters full, almost completely full. Good enough. He hopped off the table and headed outside.
Mag swooped down the second he saw Ike. He landed in a bounce and walked alongside Ike, strutting a little on habit. “Didn’t see anything funn...
2024-12-19 15:00:05 +0000 UTC View PostThe round room was packed with everyone in it. Relin had started to shoo the Old Guard out, until Ike told her to let them stay. They were just as much a part of this plan as anyone else. He looked around the room. The only member missing was Rufus’ injured underling, who was resting deep in the castle’s basement.
At the start of the m...
2024-12-18 15:00:09 +0000 UTC View PostRufus and his men stood in a line atop the battlements. Ike marched back and forth, looking them up and down. Wisp followed after him, miming his actions in some strange game of her own. He didn’t stop her, because the double-effect seemed to be intimidating Rufus’ foot soldiers. Even if Rufus wouldn’t obey him, if he could control the foo...
2024-12-17 15:00:06 +0000 UTC View Post